Thoughts on the Classes of Magic The Gathering and 5e, Part 1

Not something I originally intended to write but, hey, I was asked by a friend to write some more thoughts on ideas and concepts in relation to D&D 5e and Magic: The Gathering, specifically about "What color of mana would each class be tied to?".

This is both a simple and not-so-simple question, so instead I've decided to turn to the absurdly massive array of 3rd party supplements available to 5e. One important concept in Magic, however, is that generally non-human races are tied to one (maybe two, depending on the plane) color of Mana and this rarely changes. As a result, much of this information assume Human characters, give or take a few gifted individuals who could develop far beyond the capacities and association of their race. Of course, the Magic multiverse is vast and near-infinite so just because a thing isn't the norm doesn't mean it can't exist.

Cleric

Mikaeus the Lunarch, by Steven Belledin

In MTG, the Cleric class is heavily tied to White and Black mana, which may initially appear to be a bit odd until one dig deeper. The idea of Clerics being tied to White or Black mana may very well have root in the idea of Good/Lawful and Evil/Chaotic Clerics of early D&D. Combined with the Cleric's ability to either turn and/or command Undead as well as their ability to Heal and/or Harm and suddenly a lot of this make sense. This further plays into classical fantasy imagery, at least before Magic decided it didn't want to do that for brownie points which tend to depict good-aligned Cleric as tied to positive divine forces while the archetype of evil Clerics are those serving demons, evil gods or dark lords.

In recent years, however, with the popularity of the Theros Gods (of all Colors), the idea of tying the divine to just White or Black has somewhat faded, even if the other colors naturally fit other classes better in most cases. Still, any spellcaster whose magic is at least partially derived from faith and/or an entity which may functionally be akin to a god on any given plane could be considered fitting the Cleric class.

White Cleric Domains

Given that White is one of the two colors associated primarily with the class, it come as no surprise that there are many Cleric Domains which are well suited to the MTG color White. These Clerics tend toward the more iconic aspects of the class, namely healing, support and/or waging a holy war of some kind be it justified or not.

• Life is one of the quintessential Cleric domains, with healing being both iconic to the Cleric class as a whole as well as healers often being of the Cleric class in MTG anyway. This is assumed to be among the 'default' option for White-aligned Clerics across the multiverse and represent the abilities of that color very well.
• Light is an another obvious contender for being a mainline White Cleric domain and part of the common/innate abilities of the mana type. There are multiple MTG spells depicting White magic as being some sort of holy light including the incredibly deadly Wrath of God.
• Order (Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica/Tasha's Cauldron of stupid ideas Everything) represent Clerics which are more aligned to the Lawful side of White mana than some of its kinder and holier aspects, although this need not be entirely the case. White mana has strong association with order and social cohesion nonetheless, sometimes going quite far.
• Peace (Tasha's Cauldron of Everything) is also within the purview of White, since fundamentally the color is about harmony and lack of conflict. A Cleric of Peace represent the kinder, more merciful side of the color as well as its political side all trying to negate conflict where possible.
• Solidarity (Planeshift Amonkhet) is very much a White cleric domain as it gets, since the deity it is associated with is mono-white. The domain is well suited to the typical holy cleric with a reliable weapon in hand, some armor and a holy symbol going around being a beacon to its fellow soldiers and adventurers.

Black Cleric Domains

The Clerics using Black mana are (or rather, were) the archetypal 'evil priests' of pulp and fantasy, indebted to dark gods, eldritch entities and more of than not to demons. They are very much schemers and minions, those who serve a dark power for an equally dark reward or those who simply serve it out of fear. While one could certainly image a plane where Black mana-aligned Clerics aren't evil, its difficult to imagine one where they aren't simply neutral at best.

• Ambition (Planeshift Amonkhet) is perhaps the least 'completely evil' Domain for a Black Cleric and that isn't saying much. The Black color has always been one to focus on ambition, power and achievement at all cost.
• Abyssal is a domain well suited to demon worshipping and/or summoning Clerics which use Black Mana for their end. Demons are the Iconic Creature of Black mana and so this Domain is well suited to those Cleric who wish to unleash the power of Demons.
• Pestilence and plagues are a recurring theme for Black spells so it come to no surprise that a Domain of Pestilence would befit a vile and cruel Cleric which use Black mana, using its power to spread death and decay all around.
• Famine is the twin brother to Pestilence and unsurprisingly, Black can draw upon it too. In turn, Black instill in those who wield it a sense of hunger for more which they can use to spread death, decay and more.
• The vile concept of the Ur Priest is well suited to a Cleric of Black, especially since few of any of them ever truly display anything resembling faith or any positive qualities. The themes of Black draining and parasitism are well on display in that faux-Domain as well.

Other Colors

Generally speaking, the Cleric class is mostly only found in White and Black. For example, Blue Spellcasters tend to be the intellect-driven Wizards, while Red has the emotion-powered Shaman and Green has the nature-connected Druids. As a result, Clerics of the other three color tend to be a bit more rare. Should they exist, they would likely be tied to Planes which place a strong importance on specific Gods or similar divine entities where an established priesthood could exist.

• Red Clerics would be well-suited to any Domain tied to violence and conflict, such as War as well as any Domain which give Fire or Ice damage spells. White/Red Clerics overlap greatly with the White Clerics but tend to increase the martial bent of White even more.
• Blue Clerics are quite rare and mostly tied to Deities associated with Knowledge. To a lesser extent, any Domain that give Ice or Illusion spells can be tied to blue. White/Blue Clerics tend to increase the traits of orderliness found in White, preferring to combine strict law with logic. 
• Green Clerics are well suited to the Nature Domain or any Domain which ties into natural forces. Anything more would make them overlap far too much with the Druid class, which is very emblematic of Green overall.
• Black/Blue Clerics have a few domains that suit their (admittedly rare) niche, namely the Madness domain. These would be mad hierophants and cultists worshipping mind-breaking horrors.

Thoughts on the Monsters of Magic The Gathering

In spite of how crappy the game has become in so many aspect over time, there is no denying there are aspects of Magic: The Gathering which remain quite fascinating, in spite of how much recent set and settings/planes show that the game is way past its prime when it come to interesting ideas. Yet hidden in the rehashes and lack of ambition there are still monsters which are interesting. Many of these creatures exist either on a scant few cards or as a larger established creature that still has untapped potential. Now some of these I will skip, especially many of the Iconic/Characteristic creatures (such as Angel, Demons, Goblins or Elves) since I don't have anything interesting to say about them or they are established fantasy staples. Other are stranger, more nebulous and despite being established in some capacity across the lore of the multiverse they just haven't gotten their chance to shine.

Archons

Archon of Falling Stars by Victor Adame Minguez

The word Archon is one which I find mainstream D&D has always mistreated. The word Archon means 'ruler' in Ancient Greek and this has powerful connotations yet mainstream D&D has treated them as a fairly bland and interchangeable flavor of Celestials (lets face it, D&D Celestials fucking sucks!). In Magic, however, Archons are creatures of White mana which seem to embody the more Lawful aspect of the color. They are creatures of celestial might, wrath and most importantly of order. Archons in my opinion offer an interesting design space for a glowing, celestial being that is most definitely not one of our modern definitions of good, but rather closer to Old Testament or Pagan sense of judgment and wrath. Physically, Archons appear as luminous beings on a (usually) flying mount and they lack faces, either because it is obscured by their hood or helmet or flat out because it lacks one period.

So far, Archons have appeared a few times in Dungeons & Dragon 5th edition which can give us some limited insight into how they would function and behave as a monster beyond the scope of a playing card. Archons are (usually) resistant or flat out immune to radiant and mental effects as well as non-magical weapons. They are either fused or bonded with their flying mount and they all have some sort of compelling/control spell or a geas. Their thematic as axiomatic beings of celestial/cosmic law with power over mortals is thus well covered by their mechanics which I think make them solid monster and their varied choice of weapons (spear, swords or else) as well as suitably impressive mounts (winged lions, bulls or anything else such as a giant bird) make them quite awe inspiring. Perhaps the prevalance of flying beasts in a setting hint that, in ancient time, these were created and raised to serve as mounts to the ancient Archons? In addition, one interesting and often overlooked aspect of Archons is they are the White counterpart to the Specter type, at least visually.

• Archons as rulers of ancient humans and establishing civilization, bringing order from chaos, make for an interesting setting role especially since this can be both positive and negative depending on many factors. While an Archon brings about order, they might also be seen as little more than glorified tyrants.
• In addition to this, Archon make for a suitably varied and interesting replacement for the much more boring and specific Modrons and Inevitables, which are these days very much associated with the major mainstream D&D settings. Not only that, but Archons embody a different type of cosmic law, which is to say order, rulership or even tyranny as opposed to cold mechanical logic.

Baloths

Leatherback Baloth by Dave Kendall

I love Baloth, even if they admittedly aren't very interesting. Now technically 'Baloth' is not a distinct creature type as cards named Baloths are classified under the Beast creature type. Visually, a Baloth is a big pseudo reptilian monster, usually covered in spikes, horns and/or armored plates, however Baloth from Zendikar have hooves and resemble more creatures such as rhinoceros. It is possible that they aren't purely reptilian as infant Baloths are called 'pups' but this could also mean nothing. Baloths are huge, dumb and destructive monsters with a particularly huge appetite. In fact, its the flavor text of Enormous Baloth, in the first MTG starter set I bought, that immediately jumped to me:

"Its diet consists of fruits, plants, small woodland animals, large woodland animals, woodlands, fruit groves, fruit farmers, and small cities."

Baloth, to put it bluntly are very much mini-kaijus and sometimes you don't really need more in a monster. Their key, nay, only motivation is hunger. Baloths are very, very hungry creatures and this all consuming hunger make them omnivorous. This could open up some interesting adventures, as it is likely that magic items eaten by these monsters are simply swallowed whole and left to fester inside the monster's gut. Baloth, in my opinion, are a good monster that walks a fine line between plausible and magical, such as the owlbear. Interestingly, they appear to be something that can be tamed by druids. Interesting tidbit, there!

• Baloth make excellent random encounter monsters. However, it is very likely that astute characters might be able to guess they are in the territory of one as basically everything has been eaten, with truly massive specimen eating even entire woodlands.
• Baloth are nearly exclusively Green creatures and spellcasters of Green mana are usually classified as Druids. As pointed out above, it is very likely that Druids can tame lesser baloth and use them as guard animals, mount or even some sort of terror weapon against their enemies. A druid controlling a rampaging horde of Baloths could easily destroy an entire region in days. Baloth can also be made into undead.
• What use could players have for a dead Baloth? Quite, a few things, actually. Baloth are massive, presumably the smallest adult Baloths would be Large-sized in modern D&D. Their meat and hide may have good enough value; non-magical use might simply be to make super tough leather and scale armor while those used as reagent for magic potions could likely be used to make potions which temporary boost strength or size.

Specters

Abyssal Specter by 'Daarken'

Let's face it, these guys are pretty much a riff on the Nazgûl of the Tolkien legendarium. Mind you there is nothing wrong with that, as the Ringwraiths are iconic monsters of fantasy yet we don't really see much creatures which carry the legacy of terror these creatures once inspired. Physically they are, as pointed above, a dark mirror to the Archons or rather from a real life chronology the Archons are the light mirror to the Specters. Unlike Archons, however, Specters are definitely of human origin rather than some being born of mana and as such as Undead. Beyond that we know very little as only a few Specters have 'flavor text' which speak of their nature and isn't entirely plane-specific.

Specters as depicted in Magic, in my opinion, make for a much better Wraith than those usually depicted in D&D. Their flying mount are way more impressive than just being some flying blob of darkness. Assuming they share mechanical similarities to the Archons when it come to their mount bond, it open up some interesting ideas. Finally, Specters are infamous for their 'deal damage, discard a card' effect which clearly represent them draining mental abilities from the target which is likely carried by any weapon they use as well as the claws or beak of their mount. In a high power game where players have access to flight, Specters make for a great and dangerous airborne encounter. Given the association of Discard mechanics with madness or mental attacks, the Specters abilities to cause discard and Undead nature it might be possible that Specters are the undead form of powerful beings driven to madness. This, at the very least, is part of their lore Ravnica but, again, hard to say beyond that plane. Perhaps, then, their 'mount' is a part of their psyche which is dissociated with them. The two serve the same goals but have different personalities which could cause Specters to have rein in their overly eager or even sluggish mounts. One mind, but two personalities and attention spans, perhaps? Finally unlike Shades, very few Specters have any evasion abilities which make me believe they are at least primarily corporeal despite their name.

• Specters can work both as major antagonist in their own right or as minions. However, as a creature type in Magic they are somewhat lacking in Legendary Creatures; there is not a single (as of this post) Legendary Specter. This is a bit of a disappointing oversight or, perhaps, it may hint that these creatures are invariably minions, albeit powerful ones. This certainly ties back into their Ringwraith inspiration, even if I'd argue the Ringwraiths would certainly fit the bill as Legendary Creatures.
• Fighting a Specter is never going to be fun, as their iconic discard ability very clearly represent some form of mental attack. This make Specters a strong contender, among MTG's creatures, as being quite strongly tied to the iconic level drain (or their counterpart in later editions). At the very least, all Specter should have some mean of draining mental stats and/or the ability to disrupt a spellcaster's abilities, possibly making them empty their spell slot!

Monsters of Magic The Gathering: Sliver (Basic Fantasy)

This is partially based off the work of Daniel Nnorth on the 'Shrill', which are a conversion of Slivers for D&D 5e which can be found here.

Purebred Sliver by John Stone.

Sliver Biology

Sliver are a communal, hive-based swarm of...things. Calling them insectoids is not entirely accurate, as the classic Sliver body shape combine traits of arthropods, lizards and snakes. They have a large plated head, (usually) one or two limbs which (usually) end in a blade and a bifurcating tail which compose most of their body length. There are exceptions, however, as later Sliver breed appear to have evolved into new shapes. Sliver are creatures which are entirely based on adaptation and addition: each Sliver's mutations are shared with nearby Slivers, making the overall brood stronger. Large concentrations of Sliver turn an otherwise dangerous but mostly manageable beast into a swarm of horrific monsters with razor-sharp talons, flight, regeneration and acid spit among many other abilities. 

The Sliver stats listed here are mainly for Basic Fantasy but conversion to similar systems should be fairly easy. Sliver statlines are based on their overall bulk, which inform their Hit Dice and thus overall combat potency. Each Sliver usually has a single ability shared among those it is encountered with but not every Sliver in a pack has an ability which is useful in combat. Fortunately. Sliver are graded ranging from the newborn Broodlings, which are larval Sliver to the Lesser and Drones to the Warriors. The Large Sliver tend to be those rare few breeds notable for their sheer size and bulk and they share such growth with their allies in time of need.

Stats	Broodling	Lesser	Drone	Warrior	Large
AC	11	12	13	14	15
HD	1	2	3	4	5
No. Attacks	1 Claw	1 Claw	1 Claw	1 Claw	1 Claw
Damage	1d4	1d6	1d6	1d6+1	1d6+2
Movement	40’ Scuttle	40’ Scuttle	40’ Scuttle	40’ Scuttle	30’ Scuttle
Save As	Fighter 1	Fighter 2	Fighter 3	Fighter 4	Fighter 5
Morale	11	11	11	11	11
XP	49 XP	125 XP	205 XP	320 XP	450 XP

All Slivers have the innate capacity to share their special ability to any Sliver within 60'. This radius increase to 'plot convenience' when inside a hive/nest or when the Sliver assemble in a force large enough to qualify for some suitable system of Mass Combat, whichever you are using.

Sliver Encounter Table
Type	Wild	Small Nest	Large Nest	Hive
Broodling	0%	50% 1d4, 50% 2d4	3d4	6d4
Lesser	2d4+1 Ability	3d4+1 Ability	4d4+1 Ability	5d4+2 Ability
Drone	10% 1 Ability	50 % 1d4+1 Ability	1d6+1 Ability	1d8+1 Ability
Warrior	5% 1 Ability	15% 1 Abiliy	30% 1 Ability	60% 1d4+1 Ability
Large	1% 1 Ability	2% 1 Ability	4% 1 Ability	8% 1 Ability

The Hive Stir and hungers...

Hive Stirring by Johann Bodin

The Sliver Hives are myriad in the forms of abominations they can spawn as the ravenous Slivers constantly adapt, mutate and refine themselves. The following abominations have been known to exist and to grant these special abilities:

• Muscle, Predatory and Sinew Sliver (Lesser): Usually a single one of these exist within a specific Hive and they represent an overall increase to Sliver combat potency as they share their enhanced vigor. These Slivers grant to others +1 to hit and damage.
• Armor Sliver (Lesser): These Slivers have extended, almost metallic armor. They give to other Slivers the ability to ignore 1 point of damage from each attack they receive.
• Battering Sliver (Warrior): Battering Slivers are living siege engines who give all other Slivers a burrowing speed equal to their land movement speed.
• Diffusion Sliver (Warrior): These Slivers dispel the energy of spells targeted at them and other Slivers, giving all Slivers the ability to pass a Spell Saving Throw on an 8+ irrelevant of HD.
• Fury Sliver (Drone): These energetic and vicious Slivers give all other Sliver have a second Claw attack.
• Flying and Galerider Sliver (Lesser): These creatures have the fairly self-explanatory gift of giving Slivers a flight speed equal to their land movement speed.
• Meganthic Sliver (Large): Towering monstrosities who grant Slivers +1 to hit, damage and AC.
• Reflex Sliver (Warrior): These Slivers grant enhanced metabolism and reflexes, giving all Slivers the ability to pass a Dragon Breath Saving Throw on an 8+ irrelevant of HD.
• Spitting Sliver (Warrior): These Slivers have the ability to spit stream of biological acid, granting to other Slivers an extra attack in the form of a spit which deal 1d8 damage.
• Talon Sliver (Lesser): These Slivers share their lengthened talons, increasing the damage die of all Slivers by one category.

Of course these do take some creative liberties with the original game material while others are some new creations. Slivers are infinite in shapes and functions, so get crazy!

Elf Replacement: Moon Folks

A hodge-podge post in presenting various, somewhat disparate idea for a 'Moon Folks' race, drawing inspiration from the Lunarian of Final Fantasy IV, Celestrian of Etrian Odyssey V and Soratami of Magic: The Gathering and other disparate sources. Mind you, the idea of associating elves with the moon or another planet is by now old hat and has been done before in Golarion, Pathfinder's setting, where Elves originally came from their equivalent of Venus. The idea was also brought up by Joseph Manola at Against The Wicked City, among many others that can't be recalled right now but swear I've read before. I figured I'd give it my own spin as well as slowly shape my ideas for a JRPG-esque setting, as highlighted here and here.

Tamiyo the Moon Sage by Eric Deschamps

The Moon Folks

The being called Moon Folks do not call themselves that. What they call themselves no one knows, but they have been around in history from time to time, never gathering in one place on The Planet to form any coherent nation but enough for archaeological records to show they were around. Most Moon Folks who come down to The Planet tend to be broadly split into a few categories. There are the agents (who serve some higher power or political figure), who tend to want to set themselves up as advisors to powerful individuals (think like Merlin) or as some wandering magician serving some higher power (sort of like Gandalf). Then there are the exiles, who flee due to some crushing defeat of either themselves or their allies and who abandon their homeland to become land-dwelling mortals. Some of them can be great heroes (or at least sire them) but others are foul villains with sinister agendas.

As a race, the Moon Folks do not fall anywhere on the Good or Evil side: if they fall on any side it is most likely beyond human comprehension. They never really side with any cosmic force of absolute destruction, however, safe for some fallen and twisted individuals. They live for centuries and when they die their bodies turn to light and vanish to grow into Moon-Pearls at the bottom of their lunar seas. While capable of reproduction, for the most part their society is one of reincarnated spirits made flesh, living off in their crystalline cities tended by magical homoculi and other weird things which would populate a late-game JRPG city on the moon. Moon-Folks are notoriously disconnected from nature, as they live in the bizarre and mostly-sterile landscape of the moon.

Physically, the Moon-Folks vary greatly in appearance, which is shaped by arcane forces and bizarre eldritch rules only known to themselves. While a sizeable portion of them do look like ethereal and beautiful humans with light pastel or white hair, some displays odd traits like truly elongated, almost rabbit-like ears (think 'anime elf ears'), horns, feathers for hair, three eyes or seven fingers and toes. They rarely look monstrously deformed as these alien features tend to be delicate and well-formed...but they certainly look alien and weird.

Moon Folks Adventurers

Most Moon Folks encountered on The Planet are adventurers: the rare few who aren't generally have managed to earn themselves a rather cozy spot from which they can either observe or influence the world, such as the aforementioned court magicians, prophets or sages. Questing moon-knights and wandering sorcerers travel far and wide in search of purpose and hidden truths and only rarely do the Moon Folks ever create a village or outpost for themselves: these tend to be secret bases and hidden villages built to guard places of great power or pathways between the planet and the moon.

Magnolia, from Bravely Second.

Just how wise Moon Folks are really is...up to debate. Most are ill-prepared for life on The Planet, even if their past incarnations have gone 'down there' before. In fact, odds are that whatever a specific Moon Folk remember is centuries out of date anyway. In spite of their smugness many of them fumble at basic tasks, which can amuse humans. Every generation there are a few Moon Folks who fall in love with mortals and produce offspring.

There tend to be two paths which appeal to the Moon Folks: that of the spellcaster and that of the hybrid jack-of-all-trades. In systems which use multi-classing, Moon Folks should be encouraged to multiclass: a reflection of their many lives and the phases of the moon. It is in Moon Folk nature to diversify their skill set and fighting style. Some do it because they feel the strong pull of a past life while others do it to distance themselves from a past life, such as one who was a Fighter in a previous life now having the Rogue class as this current incarnation is much more two-faced and doesn't really feel like being a master swordsman. Especially if the past incarnation got stabbed in the face by a goblin. This conveniently allows the Moon Folks to use the Elf class from systems where such a thing exist or to use Magic-User with maybe a tweak or two.

Moon Maidens

Cecil Harvey from FF IV, the ORIGINAL
'brooding bishonen' of the franchise.

For the most part, Moon Folks don't reproduce the 'old fashioned way'. Those who reproduce with don't have to produce an offspring which is female...but if you ever needed some mysterious, mystically-gifted and impossibly cute and sweet  blue-haired girl to drive the plot it would most likely be a Moon Maiden. Lacking the wisdom of other Moon Folks, the Moon Maidens are often cruelly exploited and manipulated. Reproducing with humans yield a human offspring (albeit often quite lovely in appearance or magically-gifted but otherwise human) while two Moon Folks reproducing together brings to life an entirely new Moon Folk soul, which grows as a pearl in the moon sea as any other. Often called Moon Maidens, Moon Princess or something equally fancy they don't automatically have to be female.

Some Moon Maidens come into being on their own as part of vague, ill-defined prophecies without having any parents while others still occur when a moon pearl fall to the planet early in it's infancy, birthing a Moon Folk (initially) disconnected from past lives. A few rarer Moon Maidens are born of human parents either due to, again, ill-defined prophecies or the mother being exposed to the moon pearl which transfer the unborn life to the unsuspecting woman or, in some cases, a man whose next child will be a Moon Maiden. These Moon Maidens born of human parents tend to share some resemblance to the parent but tend to have some odd, tell-tale sign of their inhuman heritage.

Monsters of Magic The Gathering: Wurm

Wurms are flightless snake dragons. There, that's it, right? Except they aren't and describing them as such does a great disservice to these creatures. Wurm are the iconic 'big creature' for the Green color in Magic and you know you're in for some big, hungry sunnovabitch when something is the iconic 'big creature' in a color already know for large, primal beasts! Over the years they've become less and less dragon-like and increasingly more like giant worms.

Novablast Wurm by Michael Komarck.

"Okay Bob, I hear your say, you also wrote about Hellions so what's the big difference? They're both worm-thingies, right"? Well yes, they are both giant worm-shaped creatures. That is indeed true. However, the Wurm is to the color Green what the Dragon is to the color Red and that is a big deal.

Implementing Wurms into your game is all about making them the more primal, land-bound counterparts to dragons. Both creatures share a similar niche: they are giant, impossibly powerful monsters. However, here are some key points:

• Wurm are likely to grow larger than most dragons.
• Wurms usually have a burrow speed, as they never fly. The dragon may rule the air but the big bad Wurm? He's the king of the surface and underground.
• Dragons become more intelligent and cast spells the older they get. Wurms? Not so much. They only grow bigger, meaner and tougher. Fitting with the themes of Green in MTG, where a Dragon gain spells a Wurm gains an even stronger resistance to magic until it just bounce off it's armor-plated body.
• Some Wurm are blind. Doesn't really matter, as they can hunt by smell and vibration.
• Rather than a breath weapon (barring some exceptions), a Wurm would have the ability to roar and creating shockwaves or create earthquakes. This is it's more primal, simpler equivalent to the dragon's breath.

So what's the take on all this? Simple: think more wild animal or kaiju and less magnificent dragon. The Wurm is a Green creature, a monster of the earthy soil and primal forests.

Here's my quick attempt at putting together some Wurm stats in Basic Fantasy:

Armor Class:	18
No. Of Attacks:	1 Bite and 1 Tail
Movement	80’ Burrow, 60’
Save As:	Fighter of HD
Morale	9
Treasure Type:	H

Wurm Age Table
Age Category:	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Hit Dice:	4	6	8	10	12	14	16
Attack Bonus:	+4	+5	+6	+7	+8	+9	+9
Damage Reduction:	1	2	2	2	3	3	4
Bite:	3d4	3d6	3d8	3d8	3d10	3d10	3d10
Tail:	1d8	1d10	1d10	1d10	2d6	2d6	2d6
Save vs Magic**:	+4	+4	+4	+5	+6	+7	+8

*A Wurm's saving throw versus spells increase with Age.